


Case Closure

by liquidCitrus



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Blue Zircon analyzes everything, Devil's advocate as a job description, Gen, Worldbuilding, i just want everyone to be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 21:50:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17836772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liquidCitrus/pseuds/liquidCitrus
Summary: Blue Diamond says, "I should have known that you would perceive being appointed as Rose Quartz's rebel's advocate - the rebel of all rebels, an impossible task - as a punishment."Blue Zircon finds some closure.





	Case Closure

**Author's Note:**

> other people: I want closure on Jasper! I want to know what happened to that Jade fusion! I want to know how the Diamonds changed Gem society after their realizations!  
> me: I want to know how Blue Zircon found out that Blue Diamond assigning her to Rose's case wasn't because she had outlived her usefulness!  
> other people: ...  
> other people: You do realize she only appeared in one episode, right?

Bubbled gems may not be conscious, but they continue to passively gather regeneration energy, to the point where - if one has been bubbled for long enough - it's almost impossible not to regenerate. A sudden rush of power courses through Blue Zircon, then, and forces her into form.

Blue Zircon irrationally imagines that the searing traceries of Yellow Diamond's powers still dance upon her skin. That ghost-feeling isn't real, of course. But she has to look at her arms and legs to make sure they're not still disintegrating.

Then she looks up, and scrambles desperately to her feet. There is precisely one instance in which Blue Pearl would be sent to her. A summons to Blue Diamond. Surely Blue Diamond was going to scrap her now. But if she hasn't already been shattered, harvested, broken...

They might just be waiting to put her on trial first, before punishing her. Putting an advocate on trial! That's a rarity. But she did try to accuse the Diamonds, and that's exceptional enough that she ought to be made an example of. She suppresses the chill that runs through her.

Blue Pearl curtsies. "Blue Diamond requests your presence."

Blue Zircon bows, and signs a diamond upon her chest. "As my Diamond wishes, then."

Zircon follows the Pearl through corridors and up stairs. Far enough upwards that their destination likely isn't a trial-room. An audience hall?

Eventually, Blue Pearl puts her palm on a great door. The Agate guards uncross their spears as the door opens, as if their spears were part of the doors themselves. A routine drilled and practiced over millenia. Perfect gems, perfect machines. And meanwhile, she bumbles across the threshold. Blue Pearl follows her inside.

She goes in. Her steps click across the throne room as she uses her most formal body language. Head tilted just far enough downwards to signify humility. Stride length perfectly matching the floor tiles. Arms swinging, synchronized. At the colored stripe for audience-distance, she steps into rigid attention and makes the diamond-sign. And it is only then that she looks up.

Blue Diamond's hood is askew. A bit of her hair has worked itself free and is now splayed across her shoulders. Her arms are sprawled out randomly across her throne. She looks out the window, eyes unfocused, humming something to herself.

That is not the expression of focus that is Blue Diamond presiding over a trial. That isn't the body language of Blue Diamond at a shattering. Or a social function. Or - 

Has she stumbled into one of Blue Diamond's more private moments? It's not her fault she came in at the wrong time, right? Blue Pearl summoned her. Surely Blue Pearl wouldn't summon Zircon without their Diamond's express permission...?

Blue Diamond looks down. She suddenly seems to remember where she is, retrieves her arms from their bizarre positions, and clasps her hands more properly in her lap. "I owe you an apology."

Zircon is still at attention, trembling slightly. "My Diamond, I - what?"

Blue Diamond says, "I should have known that you would perceive being appointed as Rose Quartz's rebel's advocate - the rebel of all rebels, an impossible task - as a punishment."

"Did you not intend for it to be a punishment, my Diamond? I apologize for misunderstanding your intentions."

"No, no, it's not something you could have known at the time. I could have briefed you on the purpose of your presence. I could have appointed someone else. I could even have taken the job of rebel's advocate myself, without ever involving anyone else. The fact that I did none of these things..." Blue Diamond sighs. "I wanted you for the job because I knew you would dig further for the truth than anyone else would. You did. And you were right."

"I was...?"

"The attack on Pink Diamond was indeed orchestrated by a Diamond. It was planned and executed by Pink Diamond, by herself, on herself."

Zircon is at a loss for words. She exerts an exceptional force of will to keep her jaw from dropping open.

"I will have Pearl send you all the relevant files, and if you wish, I will put you on leave so that you can examine them without the time pressure of a trial hanging above you. I know you Zircons find it greatly rewarding to feel the last few details of a case click together, and giving you that closure is the least I can do to make this up to you."

There is something in Blue Zircon's eyes. Maybe it's her monocle beginning to ping, files accumulating in her download queue. Maybe it's Blue Diamond's power. Maybe it's something else.


End file.
